title: Depression, diabetes and metabolic-nutritional factors in elderly Hispanics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relationship of depression to metabolic and nutritional risk factors in older Hispanics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Crossectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were part of a community-based, cognitive evaluation project that examined 301 subjects in the Eastern San Fernando Valley of Southern California.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two elderly Hispanic groups: 53 clinically depressed, with memory complaints but not demented subjects, and 33 generally healthy, cognitively asymptomatic subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  The results of functional and nutritional questionnaires, a medical and neurological examination, 12-hour fasting clinical laboratory tests, MRI or CT scans, and neuropsychological testing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both groups were nearly identical along socio-demographic variables. However, the depressed group differed significantly from the general healthy group not only in percent of diabetics (38% vs.18%), but in the amount of poorly controlled diabetes, and the depressed group consumed about half the amount of fish that the generally healthy group did.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that factors such as poorly controlled diabetes combined with low consumption of foods high in omega-3 fatty acid content such as sea fish may be associated with an increased risk of developing depression in late life. These factors may be socio-economically and culturally influenced and are therefore amenable to modification.
authors.affiliation: Alzheimer Disease Research Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. jfitten@ucla.edu
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Fitten
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fairbanks
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nourhashemi
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sanchez
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012307:Risk Factors; D017747:Seafood; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3